Our Tucan Travel trip continued after a whirl wind three
weeks in Brazil. ‘Rosita’, our beloved truck did a great job so far showing us around all
the nooks and crannies of every places we been. We
crossed the border at Foz do Iguassu city in Brazil towards Puerto Iguassu,
Argentina. With total of 275 waterfalls that stretched between two countries, about
80% is on Argentinian side. The next
morning after we were briefed about the activities we can do there, it was time
to head to the station and hopped on local bus. After all the complicated prolonged process of my
Argentinian visa that started in Wellington, New Zealand all the way to Rio, I
was just so relieved to finally able to step on Argentinian soil. It makes me
think that the more difficult something is, the more rewarding it is in the end.
Walking trek around the falls in Argentinian side was much longer in comparison to Brazil. There are also slow trains that connect to different side of falls. Ideally, if you have 2 days then it’s perfect time to do the whole tracks however we only had 1 full day, we didn’t visit all but we did most of it. We walked on the footbridge that took us to Devil’s Throat. We didn’t get soak here unlike in the Brazilian version as in Argentinian side the footbridge finishes on top of the falls. The roar however was so loud as we were only inches from it! The highlight of the day was when we were Jetboating on the Iguazu river right into the falls and had gallons of spray drenched the whole boat from top to bottom! Incredible!
The next morning I took a long morning walk to a
lookout called Tres Fronteras or Three Frontiers, which is a landmark that sandwiched
between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. From this lookout is also where Iguazu
flows into Parana, a river that separating Paraguay and Argentina.
 |
| Iguazu flows into Parana River |
 |
| Tres Fronteras |
 |
| Tres Fronteras |
San Fransisco Mini was our next stop of few days
as we were heading towards Salta. Taking a break from camping for a while, we
stayed in another hostel. It was raining a lot during the whole time we were
there, so was good timing to stay in hostel. In San Ignacio, we visited ruins
of Jesuits that were established during Spanish colonial period. It has been
listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. Overall the site was quite well
preserved and there were many pilgrimage visiting here due to the easy access
to the complex.
 |
| Ruins of San Ignacio |
 |
| Ruins of San Ignacio |
Leaving San Francisco Mini, we made our way further
north to Salta, a city that sits at the foothills of Andes mountain, situated
at over 1000m altitude above sea level. The weather was definitely getting
cooler here. There were many of old colonial buildings scattered on every
corner of streets and alleys. We took a ride on a cable car that took us to the
highest point of the city to admire the view from a birds eye’s perspective.
There were so many beautiful buildings that enticed me to take some photographs.
I explored different kinds of alleyways and just wandered around until I got
lost before finally found my way back to the main square. They say “Not all who
wander are lost. " Was I lost on purpose?
We went on rafting trip on the river that surrounded by stunning canyon and valleys, it took us nearly 2 hours passing by windy road and bays to get to the river. Once rafting done, huge Argentinian barbecue, Asado was waiting for us. There was never been a better time for lunch I’d say! Such a scrumptious feast to enjoy! I think we went way over our meat intake for that whole week in Argentina just stuffing our face with steak after steak, washing it down with Argentinian wine. Well it’s YOLO anyway right?!
It was
short yet still sweet knowing you! Hasta Luego Argentina!
Ps: Currency in Argentina was insane! By insane I
mean cheap as chips! They have 2 currency rates and it has been going around
for over a decade! The normal one, which is if you go to the Bank and the other
one is the Blue Rate/Black Market. Here how it goes :
$1US : 8 ARS (Argentinian Peso) à Normal/Bank Rate
$1US: Between 15 up to 18 ARS à Blue Rate
We had a guy came to our hostel when we were in
San Ignacio Mini and he brought this stack of ARS money so we could exchange
our USD, felt like we were closing a drug deal!
No comments:
Post a Comment